Every week I celebrate Shabbat. We open it every Friday evening (Erev Shabbat) and, sometimes, we actually remember to close it (Havdalah). I have made my Shabbat bread and, typically, prepared our meals for that evening and the next day. The idea is that I will not be doing anything more than I have to. It is a time set aside to be with my heavenly Abba and my family…not for cleaning and cooking and working.

Each week, I get better and better at preparing. It was a bit of work at first trying to get used to thinking ahead and preparing everything ahead of time. But it has gotten easier and easier. I actually prepare throughout the week instead of waiting until Thursday or Friday. Each week, it becomes more of a true resting time.

On Shabbat, I stay off of Facebook. I try to shut out the world as much as I can. I have even gotten to where I do not always check my email either. I try to read my Bible, do some studying, watch uplifting movies online and attend Shabbat online services. I try to stay away from banking or anything I don’t really “have” to do on Shabbat.

I am not into a rabbinical definition of Shabbat. I just take the scriptures and ask the Ruach to show me what HE says Shabbat is and what that should look like for me in today’s world, in the United States, and outside of a Jewish or Messianic neighborhood.

The closest Messianic synagogue is too far to attend more than once in a great while, so we are still part of a Lord’s Day assembly. We are OK with that. There is only one day a week that is Shabbat. However, meeting with other believers for worship, fellowship and teaching is not limited to Shabbat for the scriptures tell us the early assembly met every day of the week.

I do like to attend a Shabbat service, so I am thankful that there are more and more online Shabbat services. That enables me to work with different time frames and kinds of services. When I first starting looking for one, I could only find a very few. Now, I see more and more! I am in the process of putting up a page with links to different ones that I have found.

Shabbat has become almost like a mini-retreat for me, especially if one or more of my guys are gone that day. I have the time alone with the L-rd. What a treat! What a time of healing!

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About Abigail

I am a woman who loves life and loves to see others love life, too. I love and serve the Creator, the God of the Bible...the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Because of what the Creator has done in my life, I am here to help others now. I hope we can journey together!

Abigail, this is awesome and I am so happy for you. I am praying that I get to this stage, but God has been using the Shabbat to highlight my own personal idols that get in the way of me ‘resting’. I guess that for me getting free of these bondages will enable me to experience the joy of Shabbat more and more. This is not to say that it is not a joy to me at the moment, but there are many things out of my control which I need to come to terms with, adapt to and leave the rest in God’s capable hands.

We have found a Sabbath fellowship but praise Yah! But I am also really interested in the online services which you speak of, please post the links or get back to me if you can.

Hi, Achava. Sorry it took so long to get back to you. This comment just got buried! So far, I have found three online services that seem to be pretty good in their teaching and that work out for me. They overlap, though. I was attending three and a half and downloading the teaching for one. Now, I am attending two.

My “home base”, as it were, is Tree of Life in San Diego. I have made some connection with Rav Joel and they pray for us. This is their main site. Although you can attend on their site, I usually go to Ustream because the window is bigger. http://treeoflifeca.org/treeoflifeca/tree_of_life.html Rav Joel likes the FFOZ materials, which is one of the most balanced Messianic Jewish teaching group I have seen.

My newest one, where I am slowly making connection is Beth Adonai. One thing I like about them is that they have other online classes, too, based on FFOZ materials…something I am going to try to attend, if I can. They also have a Shabbat class before the service. http://www.bethadonai.com/

Each one offers something a little bit different. I just found Beth Adonai and it is taking the place of Baruch HaShem. Both Tree of Life and Beth Adonai have a live interactive part that is a real blessing. Baruch HaShem does not. Plus, Baruch HaShem does not put the words to the songs where you can see them online, while the other two do. I really appreciate the music of Baruch HaShem. It is just frustrating to not see the words to follow along.

I can download the teachings from Baruch HaShem, but not the other two. However, the other two do have archives so that you can watch them any time and the archived ones include the whole service, not just the teaching like Baruch HaShem.

So, there you have it.

Oh, and I am still learning how to rest. There are many things that can interfere, but I am working on it…making progress.

Hi Abigail, thanks for getting back to me 🙂 It’s reassuring to know that entering the Shabbat really is a journey of perfecting, a release from the systems and bondages. I will check these out. Are you on Facebook at all?